Last night on The Daily Show Obama's overseas journey to Iraq was covered in hilarious fashion as Jon waits eagerly for his first gaffe which never comes. They do however, play McCain's geography gaffe.

Colbert also covers Obama's trip thus far and gives some satirical commentary on the charges of media bias being leveled by people like FOX News' Chris Wallace and Steve Doocy.

The Colbert report also had one of the funniest interviews I've seen in months when he sat down with someone from the Sierra Club group of environmental lobbyists. While I consider myself an environmentalist, this interview was hysterical - especially the part with the polar bear (you gotta see it to understand).

Federal agencies aren't the only ones gagging scientists.  The private sector is doing it, too, and increasingly with money rather than threats.  

The Associated Press reports that Tejon Ranch, a California development company, is co-opting the limited number of condor experts by paying them to 'review' its plan for condor preservation and requiring confidentiality as a condition of payment.  The company plans to build "nearly 3,500 luxury homes, condos and hotels on land used by the endangered California condor," writes AP.

The developer has retained the services — and secured the public silence — of three condor experts. That's a significant portion of the half-dozen or so scientists specializing in condors on Tejon, according to the developer's chief consultant on the bird, Peter Bloom.

A recent Gallup Poll showed that Americans perceived polluted drinking water as more of a threat than climate change, with 53% saying that they worried "a great deal" about it and 37% expressing the same level of concern over global warming. Gallup noted that pollution of drinking water has been a major concern since 1990.

"These poll results demonstrate that the public is out in front of policymakers,"

commented CEO Stephen E. Sandherr of the Associated General Contractors of America.

"They recognize that our deteriorating water delivery systems are in need of repair."

WATER is among the five primordial elements considered to be vital for any type of life or vegetation on this planet. Great civilizations of the world grew and developed on the banks of big watercourses. May it be the grand Nile or the majestic Indus or other lakes and springs, water has been so important that ancient inhabitants choose it as their first preference to settle nearby. Therapeutic value of both food and water mattered to mankind right from the early days.

Fighting Global Climate Change is not just about saving the planet. It is first and foremost about saving ourselves.

But the way things have been going with regards to the Kyoto Protocols and Environmental summits over the last year or so, it looks like we keep running in circles around the matter of fighting Global Climate Change - while we keep on screwing up the planet's climate cycle.

Robert Samuelson has a real talent, a real expertise in turning fact into truthiness when it comes to the economics of energy and global warming issues. Whether arguing the futility of doing anything about Climate Change (see also J'Accuse, Robert Samuelson, J'Accuse!) or laying out a path for dealing with gas prices, Robert J Samuelson's truthiness provide recipes for disaster rather than sensible policy concepts.

Earth Day is supposed to be a day of celebration, but there is little to celebrate today.

As Kurt Vonnegut once said...

“I wish I could bring light... but there is no light. Everything is going to become unimaginably worse. If I lied to you about that, you would sense that I'd lied to you, and that would be another cause for gloom, and we have enough causes already.”

It is true that there are fewer bald-faced lies being told about the state of the earth - even our President now admits that climate change is, well shucks, kind’ve a problem - but fewer lies does not mean that there is more truth....

  The fact that wind turbines kill birds ranks right up there with the fact that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Those with an agenda take a tidbit of information, say two years in a school as a child, or one badly placed first generation wind farm, and they squeal and squeal and squeal until "everyone" knows and shares their pain.

  We believe everyone in the wind industry would be perfectly happy if the Altamont Pass "Eagle Choppers" were picked up and carried away by a Pacific cyclone passing through the San Francisco Bay area.

  Lets examine the situation in details and put to bed once and for all this vastly overblown concern for birds.

Not many people can (or will) politicize a human tragedy like right wing talk show hosts do.  First it was Glen Beck with his statement that the America haters in Southern California were losing their homes to the raging wild fires there.  Now take a wild guess as to who Rush Limbaugh blames for these wild fires (hint: it isn't global warming, drought or even an act of God).  

Give up?  Well, in Rush's world it's the "environmentalist wackos" and "Hollywood liberals," along with (wait for it) Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, who are to blame!  Really, that's what he said, and I have the transcript from his own website to prove it:

(cont.)

and a few figures/statements to get you thinking GREEN.

Amanda Griscom Little's Interview with Frank Luntz at Grist. Read. Learn. ACT...nicely.

He became notorious in environmental circles in 2003 for a leaked memo he wrote telling Republicans how to green their image. He advised them to tout their love of national parks, and to say "conservationist" instead of "environmentalist," as Luntz believes the latter word reeks of political extremism. He also told Republicans to "make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate" over climate change, because "[s]hould the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly."

I am an environmentalist.  I have been since I was very small.  And I'm a netroots activist - I haven't been that quite so long, but I have been reading political blogs since I was too young to drive a car.  

In this post, Matt Stoller of MyDD lists some broad tactics to guide the netroots in building a people-powered movement for the coming years.  #2 on the list was: "Expand our netroots base: Let's get more people involved.  Let's build bridges to different communities, and bring their influentials onto the internet to engage in dialogue."  

I just got an email from my Montana friend.  She is from the reddest county in all of Montana.  83% voted for Burns.  She was one of 98 people voting for Tester.

Being in touch with her, incidentally, isn't that simple.  She has a slow internet connection because it's cheap.  She doesn't log on every day.  Her house and ranch are several miles down a dirt road.  The nearest town is not much more than a gap in the road, but it's THE megalopolis for miles in every direction.

A friend passed along the following email, which she received via a property rights mailing list she didn't know she belonged to. I think it's an interesting read for all of us who are working to kick Rep. Richard Pombo's butt out of office in two weeks, and it also gives a good look at all the support being given to Jerry McNerney -- a great Democrat.

When Corker won the Tennessee primary in August, he had a double-digit lead against Harold Ford.  Since that time, he lost his lead and now the race is tied.  There are two reasons for this: first,  Ford is running a fine positive campaign and second, Corker is a secretive man who raises many eyebrows wth some of his dealings which took place while he was Mayor of Chattanooga.

There is a long list of unanswered questions from a man who wants to serve the public but lacks transparency and trust.  Last week, Corker was to give a deposition in a three year old case brought forth by environmentalists for allowing Wal-Mart to build on sensitive wetlands.  The case was settled quietly, and once again, the public is not given any information on the deal.  Story here at the Chattanoogan.

Today's LTE in the Times Free Press by Allyson Neal, raises more questions about Bob.  Story below the flip.

From Senate Majority Project's Outrageous Quote of the Day

In Saturday's Tulsa World, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, reiterated his stated belief that global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" by comparing it to the lies told by the Nazis during the Holocaust. It kind of reminds . . . I could use the Third Reich, the big lie," Inhofe said

Last time, I checked, the environmentalist movement and the scientists who are treated as Cassandras by Republican senators not willing to acknowledge their studies, did not commit mass murder of 11 million Jews and other "undesirables." Last time, I checked, the environmentalists did not use science to perform horrific experiments on people Dr. Mengele style. Last time I checked the environmentalist movement did not invade a country based on a false pretense of invasion by Polish "soldiers." Last time I checked the environmentalist movement did not attempt to dominate the world.

So I was driving back home from Wal Mart in my Hummer and I saw something that horrified me: two male squirrels humping!

I was flabbergasted.  How can God permit such a thing to exist in nature?  What an abomination!  He must be struck down for allowing something as immoral as a homosexual squirrel to be born into this world, let alone TWO homosexual squirrels.  What if they breed???!!!  God must be sick!  He must be stopped!  If we fail to stop him, we face the possibility that beautiful, moral, natural institutions like marriage will become extinct.

Everything seems to be going to Hell these days.

Y'know, I think Markos and Jerome had something to say about this in their book...

From the Hill:

At least seven of the most vulnerable House GOP incumbents have been endorsed by unions, environmental activists or other Democratic-leaning advocacy groups. So have at least three of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans. ... Rep. George Miller (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, has disclosed that at least one of his House colleagues has said that, if Democrats fail to capture the House, labor will be partly to blame. Miller, a lawmaker close to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)...

Environmentalists and Evangelicals ---- bedfellows?

It makes good sense if you think about it - REAL Christians are going to love God's creation and care for it, not be bamboozled into letting Bush-ites buy it, sell it, exploit it, and pollute it.

Kojo's show is probably the best thing on public radio in the world. This episode is fantastic, because you can hear the evangelicals speaking more openly and honestly about what seem to me to be real Christian principles - not spouting republican talking points in exchange for political power.

Cross-posted on Soapbox4Truth